Is the Sabbath the “Sign of God” Only for the Jews?
&Analyzing Biblical Teachings &
Prof. Azenilto G. BritoThe Sabbath is mentioned as a “sign” between God and His people in Exodus 31:17: “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed".
This is confirmed centuries later by the prophet Ezekiel, in 20:20:
“And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God".
Is This a Sign Restricted to Only Israel? But, doesn’t the text indicate that this sign is between God and Israel? Yes, God established His pact with Israel, but why that is so? Why wasn’t the divine pact established with the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Libyans? Anyone who can answer this question will have half way through to understand the whole question.
In this context it would be interesting to highlight that the Baptists of the National Baptist Convention, of Brazil, in their “Doctrinal Declaration”, quote Exodus 31:14-18 among the footnotes of their Topic XV, that deals with the day of observance, confirming the notion that the commandment related to the rest day, to be totally dedicated to God, is the “sign” between God and His people. That makes all sense because Atheists, materialists and lax Christians are not characterized as those who dedicate a special period of time to God, as a whole day, or if they do it, is only adjusting the practice to their convenience. . . .
However, would the Sabbath have the objective to serve solely as a “sign” between God and the people of Israel? In what basis is that alleged?
The reference point of the Sabbath is very clearly the divine act of creating the heavens and the Earth, “in six days . . . and rested [God] in the seventh day . . . and hallowed it”. Did God, by any chance, create the world only for the Jews? David, the inspired psalmist, declared in language that certainly has universal character:
2 “The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.
3 His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever.
4 He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.” (Sal. 111:2-4).Would a Commentary by Moses Annul the “Thus Saith the Lord” in the Delivery of the Moral Law?
As he repeated the law to the people of Israel, Moses made a comment in Deuteronomy 5:15 regarding the Sabbath:
“And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day".The objective of these words is not to replace the reference point of the commandment, for the basis [or original] of God’s law is what God uttered solemnly at the ears of the people at Sinai, as recorded in Exodus 20, not the later commentary by Moses. By the way, the word “Deuteronomy” means “repetition of the law”. On the other hand, the reference to their leaving Egypt doesn’t apply only to the Sabbath, as to the entire Decalogue. In the v. 2 of Exodus 20, we read as a preface to the Decalogue itself: “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage”. What follows is the proclamation of the Ten Commandments.
If someone should take literally these words, how about the grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren of those who accompanied Moses in the journey towards Canaan, who did not leave Egypt? Also the “foreigners”, to whom, later on, the Sabbath would apply, when they accepted the terms of the divine pact with Israel (see Isa. 56:2-7*1), did not leave that land of slavery.
Moses in Deuteronomy 5:15 shows to the people of Israel the great privilege they enjoyed, for in the Egyptian slavery they had no opportunity to rest and worship their God every seventh day. This carries a wonderful symbolism for the Christian. He who was freed from the slavery of sin will worship genuinely God, being an obedient servant of all His commandments, and dedicating to Him every seventh day, as determined in the 4th commandment of His “moral law”. After all, the prophecy regarding the Messiah was that He would free His people “FROM their sins”, not “WITH their sins” (Mat. 1:21). And the biblical definition of sin we find in 1 John 3:4: “Sin is the transgression of the law”.
Historical Christian Position on the Edenic Origins of the Sabbath
That the Sabbath is a precept derived from the creation of the world has always been the dominant thought of the most important denominational pioneer and great Bible instructors, such as Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Spurgeon, John Davis, Jamieson, Fausset y Brown, Keil y Delitszch, and historical Protestant confessional documents, such as the Westminster Confession of Faith, or the 1689 or 1855 Baptist Confessions of Faith, or the modern Doctrinal Statements of the Baptists in our time. They actually reinterpret the commandment to be now applied to Sunday, in which they are wrong. But this is another discussion. The important is their clear vision about the Edenic origins of the Sabbath and its character as moral commandment, component of the “law of God” as expressed in the Decalogue, which continues normative to the Christians.
This is in harmony with Christ’s words in His debates with the Jewish leadership: “The Sabbath was made because of man, but not man because of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). The meaning of these words not only confirms the Edenic origins of the Sabbath, as acts as a corrective to the form of observing it according to its due spirit. The tenor of Christ’s debates regarding the Sabbath with the Jewish leaders was not IF it was to be observed, nor WHEN it should be observed, but HOW to dedicate the day to the Lord correctly, without the extremisms and distortions of these religious people. They corrupted the meaning of many things in the divine law, including the 5th commandment and didn’t capture the real meaning of the tithing principle (Mark 7:9-12 and Matt. 23:23*2).
Did the Holy Spirit Replace the Seal of God?
There are those who allege that in the New Testament the Holy Spirit replaced the “seal” or “sign” between God and His people. An often-quoted proof text of that is Ephesians 1:13:
“. . . ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise”.
Firstly, be it observed that Romans 4:11 indicates that “seal” and “sign” are synonyms—“[Abraham] received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith”. Secondly, there is no reason for any change in the meaning of “seal” or “sign” of God in the New Testament, since the initial reference point of that seal refers to the Creator, and the Sabbath remains as “memorial of creation”. Even in the Earth made new the redeemed ones will forever dedicate this day to God (Isa. 66:22, 23*3).
It’s noteworthy that in the Ephesians text the noun “seal” isn’t even used, rather the verb “to seal”. Thus, it cannot be said that the “seal” is the Holy Spirit. It should be something else that we discover researching the Scriptures. Moreover, when we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, one of the fruits of that is that “the righteousness of the law” is “fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”. (Rom. 8:3, 4). Evidently it’s so, for one of the functions of this “sealing” is the writing of God’s law in the hearts and minds of His children, according to the promise of the New Covenant [New Testament] (see Heb. 8:6-10*4). And it is exactly in the heart of this law that the Sabbath is found, which, as we have seen, really represents the seal between God and His people—both the national and the expanded Israel of the new covenant, made up by all those who are descendants of Abraham by faith (Gal. 3:7, 29*5).
Both Jesus in John 6:27 and Paul in 2 Timothy 2:19*6 uses “seal” to refer to those who belong to God.
Be it observed also that in Revelation 7:2 , 3*7 it is said that the angels apply the seal of God to the people, before the final confrontation between the forces of good and evil. It is not said that such seal is the Holy Spirit. How could created beings, as the angels are, attribute the Holy Spirit to the people? Only God is Whom can accomplish such task.
Characteristics of God’s Seal in a Worldwide Preaching
An imperial seal had three things: the name of the legislator, his function and the territory on which he had jurisdiction. For example, Julius Caesar [name], Emperor [position he occupies] of Rome [territory on which he rules]. In the Sabbath commandment we find these three characteristics: the name of the Legislator—God, His function—Creator, and the territory on which He exerts dominion—the heavens, the Earth, the sea and the springs of waters:
“. . . But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exo. 20:10 e 11).
In Revelation, chap. 14, we find a message centered on the genuine worship to God as He who “made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters”, in contrast with the denunciation of the false worship.
Let’s compare the language of Rev. 14:6 y 7 with Exo. 20:11 to make an important discovery:“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice: Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters”(Rev. 14:6, 7).
“For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Éxo. 20:11).
Both texts are in undeniable paralell. The magazine Christianity Today mentioned in the past that the precept of day of rest was “the most neglected” among all in the Decalogue. For it’s the place where exactly the “memorial of creation” is to be found. And the Creator and His creation are the emphasis in this final warning message.
Thus, the final preaching of the “everlating gospel” is concerned in awakening the world regarding the genuine worship to God as Creator of memorable works, an aspect of the Christian message distorted by the dominant Church in the Medieval Era, which the Protestant Reformation failed to correct. The result of that can be seen today with so many Catholic and Protestant religious people adhering to modernist notions of evolution of the species, which contradicts the basic teaching of the Scriptures on the so-called “basic trinomy of the Christian faith”—Creation-Fall-Redemption.
The Sabbath Role in the Prevention of the Evolutionary Theory
The theory of evolution emerged in the Western intellectual environment to deny this Creator and His work of creation with design. The fourth commandment of the divine law—the observance of the Sabbath—serves as a refutation of the evolution of the species ideas, that is supposedly confirmed scientifically, which is not truth as innumerable serious researchers, who didn’t sell their souls to the ‘system’, have demonstrated.
However, besides despising the commandment that constitutes a counteraction to this subtle deceit, the top leader of a Christian church in recent years made an official statement recognizing the theory of evolution as an acceptable and confirmed fact!Thus, his religious organization associates with those who advocate the pathetical idea that man was not created specially by God to have him as a being “made at His image and likeness”, as described in Genesis (1:26), rather, derived from an evolution of millions of years in multiple eras, beginning from an amoeba in a muddy puddle, going through stages of irrational beasts, killing and dying in colossal slaughters, until detaching as a superior being that, after for some other many eras of sub-human life, lately developed himself as homo sapiens, finally coming to the realization of a divine Being who was originator of it all.
Instead of the Biblical picture that “God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions” (Eccl. 7:29), many of those who claim being Christians (Catholics and Protestants) accept the opposite to that, as also intellectuals and scientists of divers fields of research stand for regarding evolutionism, a source of unbelief, agnosticism and all kinds of materialistic view and behavior that one can imagine. This way, there is a growing number of Christians who accept the theories of these deniers of the special creation with design, preferring to adopt the disputable notion that man is no more than an animal that, by some happy accident, developed himself mentally to be able to aspire the dominion over other beings that didn’t have the same lot.
Paul prophesized very aptly that “the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Tim. 4:3, 4). This he said after recommending to his disciple Timothy: “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ . . . Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (vs. 1, 2).
Had the Christians maintained the memorial of creation, honoring the Sabbath commandment, which highlights the figure of this Creator, and the special character of His memorable works, we wouldn’t have delved into the condition of generalized unbelief, indifference to the things of God and lack of preparedness to eternity that can be observed in most of the western world nowadays, which, regrettably, includes a great deal of Christendom.
*1
Isa. 56:2-7
2 “Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
4 For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.”*2
Mark 7:9-12
9 “And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.
12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;”Matt. 23:23
23 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”*3
Isa. 66:22, 23
22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.
23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.”*4
Heb. 8:6-10
6 “But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:”*5
Gal. 3:7, 29
7 “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”*6
John 6:27
27 “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.”2 Timothy 2:19
19 “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”*7
Revelation 7:2,3
2 “And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.”
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